Walking into the Santee branch of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, it’s hard to see much difference from any modern sports pub.

And that’s a victory for the VFW, one of the oldest and loudest voices in Congress for veterans issues but one that suffers from an image problem as it tries to sustain its ranks by attracting young members.

The Santee post is a success story. Three of the top officers of the 485-member post are veterans of the post-Sept. 11, 2001, era.

One of those is Christopher Hanson, a 28-year-old former sailor who wandered into the Santee hall two years ago to find a place for his Grossmont College veterans group to meet.

What he expected to find there is VFW’s business dilemma on a national scale.

“I thought it would be a bar for old veterans, usually guys just sitting around drinking. I didn’t think of anything else they did,” said Hanson, who is now senior vice commander of the post.

“That’s probably why I didn’t join earlier.”

The U.S. military has created 2 million new veterans since 2001, many of whom are eligible to be part of the VFW’s next generation.

However, the organization’s membership has declined from 1.9 million veterans in 2000 to 1.45 million today, as its mainstay World War II and Korean War participants passed away.

The VFW has to change to meet the needs of the Xbox generation, said Bobby Price, the Chula Vista resident recently elected to lead California’s VFW posts.

“They like the cafes, with the Wi-Fi. Everyone thinks the VFW is a bar. Sure, we have bars. That’s just this much,” he said, holding his fingers close together.

“Unfortunately, those bars are the biggest cash cow.”

At the Santee post, the bar and food sales largely fund the other programs, which leaders there consider their “real” work: Volunteering at events that help veterans, funding scholarship programs, being a resource for veterans and their families as they navigate the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department.

In addition to becoming more Starbucks than local watering hole, the VFW sees a need to cater to veterans with spouses and children.

“They need somewhere for their family to enjoy. So you need to set up something away from a bar atmosphere,” Price said.

“In the WWII era, it was OK to have kids sitting around a bar, but now it’s not cool to do that. Mothers and fathers don’t want to do that.”

The trend is coast-to-coast. Nationally, the VFW last year established a committee of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and another committee of women veterans.

About 10 of San Diego County’s 31 VFW posts have been successful in attracting post-911 veterans to serve as officers, Price estimated.

VFW officers acknowledge that sometimes the older members, in their 60s and 70s, aren’t keen about the new blood coming in, playing loud music and shaking things up.

But Terry Poe, a 61-year-old Vietnam veteran who was outgoing Santee post commander, said he thought it was important to embrace the new.

He even shortened the length of monthly meetings from two hours to 45 minutes, saying that time is precious for younger members.

“You ain’t got time for dial-up,” he said, pointing at Hanson, the young vice commander.

Ben Brock, a 26-year-old former Army tanker who served in Iraq, is playing the video game Rock Band after finishing a Friday night taco dinner at the Santee post, which occupies an unassuming storefront in a mini mall.

Inside, large flat-screen televisions hang on the walls, tuned to sports. Guys are playing pool. There’s a nice dart board. A jukebox. Wi-Fi. And a highchair for a child is parked in the corner.

Behind the bar, at least a half dozen beers wait on tap, including three San Diego County craft brews.